Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Sometimes God Answers Prayers With Miracles

This morning Jade and I discussed this post. We decided it would be a good idea to share some details with you all.

Yesterday, a doctor from Riley Hospital called with some test results: Ezra has epilepsy. After a long journey of testing and doctor visits, it wasn't until yesterday that we had a concrete diagnosis. In most cases, he would throw up and then lose awareness for a minute or two. The strain on Ezra, Jade, myself and the rest of our family has been significant. We wondered if our missionary life was causing too much stress on him. We wondered if we were doing something to cause them. We now know the cause, the diagnosis and a plan of treatment over the next years.

Shortly after the phone call yesterday Jade was thinking about the diagnosis and wondering about our work in Uganda. "Should we really be doing this?" she wondered. Moments later, an email showed up in the inbox. It was a new financial commitment for our support. She did the math. We had this crazy goal to get to 90% before Christmas. I (Nathan) felt a little ridiculous telling people about this goal. I called it "our prayer" instead of a goal just so we all knew I was aware how huge it was. Anyway, Jade did the math: 97%. Ninety Seven Percent.

We want our lives to answer a question. If you are a person who wonders about God. Is He real? If He is, who is He? What is He like? We test these things by looking at the way His hands touch this planet and the lives of human beings. In the hard times, when our children are sick, He is our comforter. Let that be the scream of our family. We ache at the pain of our son but we are not hopeless. Despair is a word we never use. In the high times, we set goals that we have to call "prayers" because they seem ridiculous. Sometimes, as only He can do, God answers prayers with miracles and piles it on so thick we don't know what to say.